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Latitude: 52.6664 / 52°39'59"N
Longitude: -2.3752 / 2°22'30"W
OS Eastings: 374721
OS Northings: 307699
OS Grid: SJ747076
Mapcode National: GBR 06T.SCV
Mapcode Global: WH9DB.H75P
Plus Code: 9C4VMJ8F+HW
Entry Name: Sewer ventilation pipe, Shifnal
Listing Date: 30 March 2023
Grade: II
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1484878
ID on this website: 101484878
Location: Shifnal, Shropshire, TF11
County: Shropshire
Civil Parish: Shifnal
Built-Up Area: Shifnal
Traditional County: Shropshire
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Shropshire
A C19 cast-iron sewer vent pipe.
A C19 cast-iron sewer vent pipe.
MATERIALS: cast-iron.
EXTERIOR: the pipe is around 4m tall. Its base has two torus mouldings, then a plain shaft with horizontal banding and geometric triangle and circle detailing before a scotia. Moving upwards is a band of round-cornered rectangular mouldings, then further up is an elongated scotia below a band decorated with ball mouldings. Above this the shaft is narrower and plain until its halfway point where there is a larger protruding disk with smaller disks above and below. The pipe is capped by a collar with four round studs and a capital with stylised leaves.
Sewer vent pipes or ‘stink pipes’ functioned by allowing the gases from below ground sewers to vent out and dissipate high above the level at which they would be smelled or breathed in. The Church Walk vent is located behind the public house with stable and adjoining terrace of houses at 15-19 Victoria Road which appear on the 1839 tithe map. The terrace was extended by a further two houses to the west (numbers 21 and 23 Victoria Road) by the time of the 1882 Ordnance Survey Map. It is unclear whether this sewer pipe was constructed to serve any of these buildings or the town’s general sewer network; following the 1875 Public Health Act, Shifnal’s sewers would have been substantially upgraded along the lines of London’s new sewer system of the 1860s.
The sewer ventilation pipe, Church Walk, Shifnal is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural Interest:
* the pipe survives to its full height and so illustrates how it functioned when in use;
* it has been designed with visual appeal in mind and displays architectural interest through its proportions and decorative mouldings.
Historic Interest:
* as evidence of the local authority in Shifnal’s response to C19 public health concerns and national legislation on the treatment of waste.
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